Medium
Enhanced Forecast Design Through Experimental Gaming and Social Impact Assessment of Connected River and Floodplains
Regular exchange of water between rivers and connected floodplains offers nature-based floodwater storage to mitigate downstream flooding impacts and risks to lives, property and infrastructure. However, many floodplains are modified, which limits hydrologic connectivity and exacerbates the impacts of floods downstream (Scott et al., 2019). Growing awareness of the importance of floodplain functioning for climate resilience has led to initiatives to remove barriers, restore channel and floodplain form, and set aside conservation easements to allow the perpetuation of natural process (Remo et al., 2012). Currently, stakeholders engaged in natural resource projects (e.g., government or non-government environmental groups) lack a way to prioritize investment of limited resources or mechanisms to evaluate benefits. In part, this limitation is due to two things: underdeveloped models of connectivity in flood plains, and simplistic social-ecological impact assessments that fail to appreciate the full range of ecosystem services proffered by highly connected river and floodplains. Because rivers and floodplain processes are inherently linked to the upstream watershed, and influence downstream communities, planning tools must be at multi-level scales, especially to find synergies among green infrastructure projects (Seddon et al 2020). The NWM provides an ideal framework to plan and evaluate these impacts because of its CONUS coverage and provision of hydrograph predictions, including in ungauged basins. Ecosystem services frameworks are increasingly being used to calculate social and ecological costs to enhance forecast design and stakeholder use, including by NOAA’s Office of Coastal Management Digital Coast program. This project will broaden the capacity for forecast design by better understanding how communities use this information. Ultimately, we will develop a CIROH Forecast Design Center to explore the heterogeneity of risk perception and behavior, and decision heuristics relative to water hazard mitigation that can be integrated into NWM products.
Winooski Watershed Flood Hazard Empaneled
On March 22, 2023, a group of professional emergency managers, regional planners, watershed and river managers, and town managers who work in the Winooski watershed of Vermont convened for the first of four empaneled focus groups. This first focus group centered on gaining better understanding of the most salient flood “hot moments” of most concern, the vulnerable “hot spots” where life, property and infrastructure is most vulnerable, and how risk communication, early warning and imminent threats are disseminated and received.
Focus Group #1: Technical Brief
March 22, 2023
The specific purpose of the first empaneled focus group was to provide an opportunity to lay out the plan of action for the two-year period, identify key assets and issues facing the watershed, both physical and environmental, and discuss the relevant risk communication and coordination challenges and needs facing the region.
Focus Group #1: Technical Brief
March 22, 2023
The specific purpose of the first empaneled focus group was to provide an opportunity to lay out the plan of action for the two-year period, identify key assets and issues facing the watershed, both physical and environmental, and discuss the relevant risk communication and coordination challenges and needs facing the region.
- Winooski Watershed Flood Hazard Empaneled Focus Group #1: Technical Brief
- Operational Considerations Technical Brief Resulting from a Review of the Response and Recovery to the "Great Vermont Flood of 2023"
- On Matters of Life and Death - Recommended Actions to Improve the Safety of Vermonters During Major Flooding Events